Calls, mail, email flood politicians' D.C. offices

WASHINGTON - There are service requests: problems with Social Security or Medicare, or maybe a request for a flag that flew over the Capitol.

Jessica Wehrman, The Columbus Dispatch

WASHINGTON — There are service requests: problems with Social Security or Medicare, or maybe a request for a flag that flew over the Capitol.

There is lobbying: Vote for this bill, support funding for this program.

And then there are the wild cards: those looking to vent their spleen about the state of the country. They keep life interesting but also spur a little anxiety, because really, who wants to be yelled at?

Lawmakers — or, more often, their staffs — receive thousands of calls, letters and emails a year. In congressional offices buzzing with activity, the correspondence from constituents might serve as the blood that runs through the veins of each office.

“We get a ton of letters,” said Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington. Since Stivers entered Congress in January 2011, he has received 11,606 letters, 60,109 emails and 1,127 phone calls. He set a goal of turning mail around within a week. The average turnaround: 6.33 days, though complicated requests can take longer.

A 2011 study by the nonpartisan Congressional Management Foundation found that more people than ever are writing to their member of Congress, including via email. According to the study, released last year, Senate offices have reported a 548 percent increase in mail volume since 2002 — with one office reporting a 1,422 percent increase from 2002 to 2009. House offices reported a 158 percent increase. There was a particular spike in 2009, when Congress grappled with high-profile issues such as the economic stimulus and health care.

Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Township, has seen the increase firsthand: When he was a student at Ohio State University, he answered the phone for then-Rep. John Kasich. Since then, the volume has skyrocketed, in large part because of email and form-letter emails. Last year alone, he received nearly 54,000 pieces of written correspondence. This year, as of July 31, he had received 21,000 written pieces of correspondence. That’s not counting calls.

“I tell everyone who works for me that if somebody’s calling a congressional office, they are very frustrated,” Tiberi said. “They’ve done everything they can do to fix their problem, and we need to be supportive as much as we can.”

Some contacts spur action: Tiberi once received a call from an Iraq war veteran who had applied for a job at the Defense Logistics Agency in Whitehall, only to be told that the preferred status afforded to veterans had not been extended to Iraq war veterans. Tiberi talked to the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee about it, and within a few weeks, the preferred status had been extended.

Sometimes calls change votes. Tiberi voted initially against the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2010. Then, he started talking to constituents. Some were small-business owners who had seen their lines of credit constrict, even though they had done nothing wrong. Officials at a private nonprofit college in Ohio fretted to Tiberi that they’d have to close their doors because their credit was being reduced. A banker told Tiberi that a widowed elderly woman withdrew every penny of her savings — $111,000 — to store under her mattress because she was afraid of what would happen next.

In the meantime, lawmakers were working to address some concerns in the bill. When it was voted on again, Tiberi voted yes.

There are some problems he can’t resolve: Constituents have called to complain about potholes, traffic lights and trash collection. None, alas, is a federal issue.

Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, received a number of calls complaining about a casework backlog at the Department of Veterans Affairs, including one from a Beavercreek veteran suffering from throat cancer thought to be caused by Agent Orange. The office bird-dogged his case, and Austria met with the secretary of the VA to urge the agency to speed up its casework.

Because Austria has kept his number listed, he fields some calls himself — at home. One Sunday morning, he took a call from a worried Beavercreek mother who had lost touch with her son, who was studying in Egypt. That country was in tumult, and she couldn’t reach her boy. Could he help?

Austria and his staff made some calls. By that afternoon, the State Department had found her son.

Most lawmakers get a readout summarizing what people are calling about. In Sen. Sherrod Brown’s office, those issues are discussed during staff meetings. During last year’s budget showdown, staff members worked around the clock to field calls, and Brown, D-Ohio, was among those answering the phone.

When Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, was named to a congressional “supercommittee” tasked with slashing the deficit in 2011, he actively solicited ideas on how to reduce the debt via his website. In all, 16,000 people, including 1,000 Ohioans, responded to the request.

Among the suggestions: “Cut congressional staff entirely and run each office using volunteers,” “ use a structure similar to the Salvation Army donation drives to allow citizens to contribute to the deficit” and “merge with Canada.”

Some offices get “frequent fliers,” such as the Ohioan who has called Portman’s office more than 6,000 times.

And some call with stories that get the entire office emotionally involved. One constituent called Stivers’ office distraught when she was about to lose her house. She didn’t know where to turn. It turned out that her husband was a Vietnam War veteran and was eligible for VA benefits. She kept her house, Stivers said.

“There have been some occasions when folks have changed my mind or broadened my way of thinking on things,” Stivers said.

jwehrman@dispatch.com

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